Photos by Stephen McGill
“We’re Babe Haven. We’re from North Carolina. Y’all know where that is? Y’all wanna dance? Alright, let’s dance.”
So said Babe Haven vocalist Lillie Della Penna following their opening number and as introductions go, it was a fairly straightforward yet also fairly effective one. The four-piece did indeed elicit some dancing, even getting a small circle pit going later on in their set. The self proclaimed “high energy queer punk band” certainly lives up to their own hype, putting on an impressive performance that definitely got the crowd moving.
For many bands, Babe Haven’s energetic set might be a tough act to follow, but luckily, Soft Play have more than enough energy to spare. The Kent-based duo of Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent put on a formidable show that absolutely demands your attention. Their loud, raucous and, yes, energetic performance is especially impressive considering that not only is it just the two of them up there making all that noise, but that Holman takes on lead vocal duties while also drumming. And not just drumming, but drumming while standing up. And though he mentioned that they started out as a two-piece out of necessity because no one else wanted to play with them, I couldn’t imagine the band in any other configuration.
While Soft Play undoubtedly excels at making big, heavy rock music, one of the most memorable moments of the evening was when they paused to show off their, well, softer side, with Holman stepping away from the kit and Vincent switching to mandolin for “Everything and Nothing” and an acoustic version of the title track from their latest full length, Heavy Jelly. Other (heavier) highlights of the night included “Fuck the Hi-Hat”, “John Wick”, “Girl Fight” and the mass crowd singalong during “Punk’s Dead.” Yet another highlight came when Holman humorously responded to a guy shouting out for a song with, “Don’t spoil the setlist, mate. We know what we’ve got to play, we’re professionals”
As they neared the end of their set, the band announced that they had just two songs left, adding, “We don’t do encores ’cause they’re shit. Thanks for having us.” They ended things off with “The Hunter” off their 2015 debut album Are You Satisfied? And though that’s just the title of the album and not a question they were necessarily expecting to be answered, I’ll just go ahead a say that, yes, it seems fair to say that the crowd at The Mod Club on Thursday night walked away pretty satisfied.
